Orca matriarch Cookie leads the way in The Patch today as we watched on to see Swirl, Spock, El Notcho, Kalimna and Oreo follow her every turn and dive. No oil slicks observed today so it was a tough day fishing for the family pod but that didn’t deter them as the search continued for their next meal. Hungry Shearwaters and beautiful Albatross soared as they followed Cookie in hopes of a little morsel of food. It’s days like today we see our Orca working very hard to find a meal and it is vitally important that pod matriarchs are able to lead their families in the right direction to ensure the highest likelihood of securing a meal. Cookie’s pod is a very special pod, there are only six family members so what they lack in numbers they make up with one focused matriarch in Cookie to make sure she gets her family fed.
Observing over the last six years her calf Oreo slowly growing into a young Orca and learning the skills right alongside Cookie has been a wonderful joy. We are also keeping an eye on Spock again he/she may be sprouting but only time will tell so for now El Notcho may be the only big boy in the pod but perhaps for not much longer. As for the other girls Swirl is looking very healthy along with Kalimna and we hope one day soon one of these females may fall pregnant to help this small but strong Orca family grow. In the meantime it’s just the six pod members with matriarch Cookie always working hard to look after her family. Hopefully tomorrow we can see Cookie again with a few oil slicks around and some full bellies for this hard working Orca family.
